


Crazy Little Thing Called Love

by jennandblitz



Series: Marauder Ink [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, F/M, Flashback, Fluff, Marauder Ink-verse, Modern Marauders (Harry Potter), Wedding Fluff, Weddings, just a lot of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 08:57:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19808983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennandblitz/pseuds/jennandblitz
Summary: Let’s get married.James had been serious when he said it, drunk on life and too tired to sleep, the three of them working fourteen-hour days to get their dream off the ground. Lily had laughed into his shoulder, half-asleep already sprawled across their bedding still in jeans and a shirt. Marauder Ink was a month away from opening and Lily was sleeping, eating and breathing to-do lists. James fell asleep with his mouth pressed to Lily’s forehead and soft rise-and-fall of her chest against his. He woke up with her fingers tracing the lily-flower tattoo on his neck. She smiled and saidlet’s do it.





	Crazy Little Thing Called Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stonecoldhedwig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stonecoldhedwig/gifts).



> This is just a little Jily one-shot with the Marauder Ink universe, looking at their relationship and their wedding because a few of my dear friends wanted some Jily cuteness, and who am I to refuse! Beta'd by and for my lovely friend siriuslywritten.

_Let’s get married._

James had been serious when he said it, drunk on life and too tired to sleep, the three of them working fourteen-hour days to get their dream off the ground. Lily had laughed into his shoulder, half-asleep already sprawled across their bedding still in jeans and a shirt. _Marauder Ink_ was a month away from opening and Lily was sleeping, eating and breathing to-do lists. James fell asleep with his mouth pressed to Lily’s forehead and soft rise-and-fall of her chest against his. He woke up with her fingers tracing the lily-flower tattoo on his neck. She smiled and said _let’s do it_.

That morning they begged off shop work, leaving Sirius to build their work bench.

“What are you two up to?” Sirius said, piling his hair into a bun and peering at them both.

“Nothing,” said Lily, smiling impishly.

James only grinned. He couldn’t lie to Sirius—their near telepathic link wouldn’t allow it. “C’mon flower,” James said, leading them out of the shop. It was only a short walk, brisk and cool in the late March air, to the local Registry Office. James paid the fee on his credit card—to worry about later—and the pair left the Office with a piece of paper. On the 28th of April, they were allowed to get married. Only 30 days to wait. It didn’t seem possible then, James with his hand clasped in Lily’s one, his Gryffindor lion beneath her electric blue acrylic nails. He didn’t want to wait, but it had been years already, he could wait 30 more days.

James Potter first saw Lily Evans in Windsor town centre. It was the middle of September and the leaves were already falling. Lily was wearing an emerald green and her dark red hair was tumbling in waves around her shoulders. James was with Sirius, and clapped his friend on the shoulder and breathed, “God, look at her.”

Sirius had tilted his head and said, “That’s Evans. I’ve Latin with her.”

“You do? … Shit. I need to take Latin.”

Some of the Windsor Girls School girls came to Eton for lessons throughout the year as part of an Outreach Programme across both schools to combine them both. Some of the boys who thought Eton was still a privilege and not just where they went to school said the programme with Windsor would sully their reputation. James thought that was the biggest pile of bullshit he’d ever heard. His father had gone to Eton, and sent him there because he wanted the best for his son, and Sirius’ family had gone to Eton since… forever. But that didn’t mean they thought they were any _better_ than others… not because of schooling, anyway.

As it happened, James had French with Lily Evans that year. Sirius didn’t take French—his family were already fluent, although Sirius insisted he’d forcefully wiped most of the fucking language from his brain—so when James walked into class and sat next to her with a grin a mile wide he thought he had it made for him.

Lily had rolled her eyes and immediately put James in his place, tutting and sighing every time he made a wry comment to the teachers, rolling her eyes whenever he sniggered at the rude words. By the end of the first term James had taken to dropping notes in French on her desk—Sirius helped him translate some of the more flowery words, disgruntled and grumbling into his Latin textbook—but Lily just rolled her eyes and threw them in the wastepaper bin with an accuracy that only made James love her more.

Lily was friends with Severus Snape, a boy in James’ year at Eton, one of those kind who didn’t want the Windsor girls mixing with the Eton lads. James found that laughable, if Sev was so friendly with Lily, how could he hold views like that? According to friends they knew each other from their hometown, but if anything that only cemented the idea in James’ head that friends were only as good as their actions. He saw Sev agreeing with those elitists in the quad and over dinner, but in lessons with the Windsor girls he would sit next to Lily and smile and nod. Maybe it was jealousy, sure, but James liked to think very little in life compromised his own morals, and to see someone act so differently around people struck a chord with him. (Of course, later, James would realise he acted like a massive idiot around Lily and like a normal human being around his friends, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.)

Once or twice Lily and her friends came to observe the rugby practise in the second term and James made a particular show of really throwing himself into tackles and pushing for that try line, reluctant to throw the ball to Sirius—who was much better at the bursts of speed. After one particularly triumphant try, where his teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders, James caught her eye across the pitch and spent the rest of the day wondering whether the flush on her cheeks was the cold or something else.

It was in fifth year when James, at the peak of his infatuation, started to sneak out of Eton after curfew—his father had apparently been a pro of sneaking out of the building in his own time there, and passed his secrets onto James, and in turn Sirius—and down to Windsor to stand beneath the girl’s dormitory and serenade Lily Evans with poorly sang popular love songs. Sometimes Sirius would be his backing track with a synchronicity that rarely needed rehearsing. Lily, inevitably, pelted them both with rocks and clutter until they ran for cover back to the school boundaries.

It was spring term, bleeding into summer with temperatures rising and days lengthening, when the duo stole down to Windsor again on the edge of curfew. They climbed through the hole in the chain link at the edge of the girl’s dorms and greeted Arthur Weasley who was also sneaking away to meet his girlfriend Molly.

In the quad besides the dormitories, though, James and Sirius found Lily and Severus. James supposed it was jealousy, looking back, but he’d puffed his chest and said, “Oi, Sniv, what are you doing here? Halloween’s a while away.”

Lily rolled her eyes but stepped back from Sev, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Oh shut up Potter, no one wants you here either, posh bastard.”

James couldn’t tell you how it happened—teenage bravado, sheer idiocy, acidic jealousy—but he and Sev were fighting the next moment, scuffling and throwing awful punches. Lily shouted at them to stop but James didn’t listen, only hearing Sirius jeering as he pushed Sev back towards James every time the other boy stumbled. James, with his rugby training, got Sev in a headlock and grinned up at Lily with blood trickling from his nose.

“Let him go Potter, you’re disgusting, just let him go!”

“I will if you go out with me Evans,” James retorted, twitching his glasses further onto the bridge of his nose.

“Not a chance in hell Potter, rather a dung beetle than you, you arrogant toe-rag!”

“Oh go on Evans, I’ll let him go, just one little date.”

Sev writhed against James’ grip around his shoulders and managed a particularly vicious elbow to James’ ribs. James stumbled back and loosened his grip as Sev shoved at him. “I don’t need help from common whores.”

Lily gasped at the same time both James and Sirius did.

“Take that back,” James spat, squaring up to Sev again.

Lily shoved James aside with surprising strength and strode right up to Sev, punching him in the nose. He staggered back, pressing his hand to his nose. “ _Common whores_ don’t need friends like you, Sev,” Lily said, her jaw clenched tight. James watched with wide eyes as she kneed him in the groin and stepped back when he fell forward, clutching his injured pride.

“Bloody hell,” Sirius breathed from beside James. In a flash of red and green Lily whirled on them and shoved past them.

“Evans!”

James went to follow her up the hill towards the girls dormitories but Sirius caught his arm and shook his head. Behind them Sev was scrambling back to his feet, groaning. Before he could turn his greasy wrath on the duo, Sirius dragged James back towards the gates and Eton by the arm.

In hindsight, James realised both he and Sirius were Grade A arseholes in school, and by all rights Lily shouldn’t have given him the time of day. He didn’t deserve it. That winter Sirius ran from home, turned up on the Potters’ drive in Berkshire with gravel stuck to his socks and blood trickling from his nose. Sirius’ fall from the Black house and his welcome into the Potters’ made James realise they couldn’t stay kids forever. Seeing Sirius’ trauma first-hand, seeing how it woke him every night and how he flinched at Mum whenever she laid a hand on his shoulder or caught them arguing a little too vigorously over the new rugby fixtures and chastised them, made James realise just how futile all their stupid little schoolboy feuds were.

For the rest of the school year James kept his head down and worked hard. He looked out for kids who flinched at physical contact or always looked at the floor and he held a hand out to them just as he did to Sirius. In their final year, James was made Head Boy (somehow) and Lily Evans had been made Head Girl at Windsor. Throughout all their meetings, Lily eventually began to smile properly at him, laugh and joke with him, and then, when James asked her to the cinema one spring evening, she finally said yes.

On Sunday the 27th of April, on the sofa of their shared flat with Sirius sat between Lily’s legs as she braided his hair, James tapped his best friend on the shoulder. “Hey. We’ve got a surprise.”

Lily smiled, her fingers twisting Sirius’ hair out of his face, as James rested his hand on her thigh. It seemed strange to voice their little secret out loud. It had been so busy with work recently, and Sirius had received a phone call from Orion the same day they came back from the Registry Office, so naturally, for a while, it was all hands on deck and James’ priority lay with Sirius whilst Lily kept the work on the shop going. Now though, everything was calm, and tomorrow was the day.

“Oh no, I don’t like your surprises, Prongs. What is it?” Sirius tipped his head back onto Lily’s knee.

“James and I,” Lily said, twisting the elastic around the ends of Sirius’ hair, “are getting married tomorrow.”

“What!?” Sirius twisted around and scrambled onto his knees, looking at them both with wide eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah.” James grinned, lacing his fingers with Lily’s. “Just thought about it last month… got the license… made the appointment.” James pushed his glasses further onto his nose and fixed Sirius with an earnest look. He was sure the other man would say yes to this question, but it was still nerve-wracking to ask. “You’ll come with us? Be our witness.”

“Me? Of course! Holy fuck, _of course!”_ Sirius launched himself onto the sofa and wrapped his arms around them both. Later, James would tease him for the misty look in his eyes, but in fact they were probably all a little teary.

The next morning James sat on the edge of the bed watching Lily apply her makeup in the mirror. _In two hours,_ he thought, _that’s going to be my wife._ She looked beautiful in the early morning, applying her eyeliner with such precision. James watched her for a moment longer before moving to the wardrobe and pull out his suit from Eton graduation. He shrugged the pieces on, feeling vaguely apprehensive but excited all the same, hearing Sirius humming Depeche Mode out in the kitchen. Dressed, he dropped a kiss on the top of Lily’s head and ducked out of their room to find Sirius in his approximation of smart clothes. He was in a black button down and skinny jeans _without_ rips on the knees, atop shiny black brogues. His faithful leather jacket lay over the back of the sofa.

Sirius saw him and grinned. “This do? I don’t think I have my suit anymore… think I burned it because _they_ gave it to me…”

“Mate,” James said, crossing over to Sirius to hug him, “it’s _perfect_.”

They drank tea and made nervous conversation until Lily appeared in the doorway. She wore a white lace mini-dress with fluted sleeves and her hair was piled up on her head in that way she always managed to make look _so_ effortless and _so_ beautiful.

“Flower…” James breathed, rising from his seat and crossing to her, awestruck.

“What do you think?” Lily spun in a slow circle, the skirt of her dress flaring out.

“Oh my _god_ , I get to marry you,” James said on a laugh, still staring in disbelief at her. She was _so_ beautiful.

Lily just laughed, her fair cheeks flushing red.

“Come on.” Sirius interrupted them, grabbing his leather jacket from the back of the sofa. “Uber’s outside.” He paused at the front door and cocked his head, looking fondly at them both. “You’re so bloody good, you know, both of you.”

James felt his heart widen with inexplicable fondness and put his arm around Lily’s shoulders, letting Sirius lead the way down to the car. The journey to the Registry Office was full of laughter and jokes, the trio giddy with excitement and love. Lily held James’ hand so tight her knuckles were white but her hand had always fit so well in James’.

Lily stood opposite him, her green eyes shining, her hands clasped in his, at the table of the Registry Office. They’d needed two witnesses for the certificate, and no one else was quite close enough for this, so the girl who worked the reception of the office, a brunette with red-rimmed glasses and the most infectious smile James had ever seen, stood beside Sirius, grinning. Sirius, the blubbering idiot, threw his arm around her shoulders and waxed lyrical about how _good_ both James and Lily were, how they were the _best_ people he knew.

Everything seemed to fade away when Lily smiled at James, her perfect smile and her perfect white teeth. “James…”

“Hi flower…”

“Are you, James Fleamont Potter, free, lawfully, to marry Lily Victoria Evans?”

James found his voice lodged in his throat with how fast his heart was beating. He looked at Lily as he said, “I am.”

“Are you, Lily Victoria Evans, free, lawfully, to marry James Fleamont Potter?”

Lily’s smile felt like the sun. “I am.”

James barely heard the words as the registrar spoke a little further on marriage, but just held Lily’s hands tight. Behind him Sirius was sniffling a little, no doubt with his arm still around the girl from the reception.

“Do you have rings?” The registrar asked, looking at James and then Sirius.

“… No.” James laughed, rubbing a hand over his face as Lily did the same. “No, we didn’t, we don’t…” Lily was laughing, holding onto James’ hand, her cheeks bright red at the idea they’d forgotten something so important as rings.

“We—we were too excited to actually _get married_ to think about all that,” Lily ushered out, still smiling. The registrar, luckily, seemed quite amused.

“Oh, I’ve got an idea,” Sirius said, a knowing grin on his face. “When we get back to the shop…”

And James knew what he meant. They had been talking for a while of James getting something of Lily tattooed, but this was perfect. James nodded and grinned at Sirius, overwhelmed with gratefulness for the whole situation.

The Registrar seemed to take everything in his stride though, they were back on track soon enough when he gestured for Lily to speak. James didn’t know if she’d prepared something, but it seemed she had.

“James… If you’d have told me five years ago that I would be stood here today I would’ve punched you. But you mean the world to me, James. You are my rock and my unfailing source of optimism, support and love. You make every day an adventure and I promise to be with you throughout it all. I promise to share all my happiness and laughter with you, I promise always to be trusting, honest and respectful… even when you’re being a bit of a git. I can’t wait to take on the world with you, Potter.”

James hadn’t realised he was crying until Lily sniffed prettily and thumbed away the tear at the top of his cheek. God, how had he gotten so lucky to find a woman like her? She was everything James could ever need in life, everything he could ever want and she vowed to stand by him through everything.

“Lily-Flower… Christ, how do I keep up with that? I don’t… don’t know what to say. You are—” James grasped at her hands a little tighter— “the most perfectly beautiful person, both inside and out, I’ve ever had the good fortune to be around. You balance me out so wonderfully that I can’t imagine life without your presence, telling me when things are stupid ideas or when we should go and chase our dreams… I promise, with everything I have and ever will have, to stay by your side and give you _everything_ you could ever want. I promise to love and cherish you, to be understanding, honest and trusting.” James smiled and rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. “Can’t wait to take on the world with you, flower.”

If James could look away from Lily he would see Sirius and the girl with the red glasses sniffling quietly into each other’s shoulders, strangely close after only ten minutes. But James stayed staring at Lily, at this green-eyed fury, this beauty in front of him who was his whole damn world.

“Do you, Lily Victoria Evans, take this man, James Fleamont Potter, as your lawful wedded husband?”

Lily gripped James’ hands and smiled so brightly James would’ve blinked if he could tear his eyes away from her. “I do.”

“Do you, James Fleamont Potter, take this woman, Lily Victoria Evans, as your lawful wedded wife?”

“I do.” James felt invincible.

“Then you may kiss the bride.”

Not needing to be told twice, James wrapped his arms around Lily’s waist and pulled her into him, pressing his mouth to hers. She tasted like Earl Grey, lipstick and forever and laughed into his mouth as she threw her arms around his shoulders. Sirius and the receptionist clapped and cheered as James spun Lily around and delighted at the sound of her laughter.

His wife.

Outside the Registry Office Sirius threw confetti—God knows where he found it—over them both whilst they waited for the Uber and James kept kissing Lily, over and over, like he couldn’t quite believe it was happening.

Marauder Ink was opening the next day, but when Sirius let the trio into the shop with a flourish it already felt like a new beginning and the promise of life starting over. Lily kept laughing into James’ shoulder like she couldn’t believe it either. Sirius bustled about in front of them, manic with happiness as if it went some way to hide how teary-eyed he really was at the Registry Office.

“Trust me?” Sirius asked as he cleaned down his workspace, peering at the newlyweds sat on the edge of the tattoo bed.

“Yes,” James answered instantly, and Lily was only a second behind with, “Yeah.”

Sirius pulled the top off his marker. “Okay. Close your eyes and hold out your left hand. This is my wedding present.”

James kept his eyes closed through the buzzing of the tattoo gun and the familiar sharp, burnt pain of the needle. He wasn’t worried; he trusted Sirius entirely. He kept his eyes shut whilst Sirius tattooed Lily’s hand too and reached across to grip her other hand.

“Okay,” Sirius said, setting his gun down. “Open your eyes.”

“Oh…” Lily said softly.

James blinked a few times in the bright light as his eyes focused on the ornate _L_ on his ring finger, swirling and beautiful. He looked across to see the matching _J_ on Lily’s finger, and looked up to see her grinning down at it like it was all the riches in the world.

“Padfoot…” James said, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you.”

Lily wrapped her arms around them both and squeezed tight. “It’s perfect.”

Later, they video-called Effie and Monty and endured a torrent of excited screaming from them both. By the end of the call Effie had invited all the family friends to a party that weekend and Sirius had created a corresponding Facebook event to invite all their old school friends.

“Young man,” Effie said, waving her finger sternly at the screen. “You will not deprive me of a wedding. As much as I think it’s wonderful how you did it.”

The week at Marauder Ink flew by in a wave of successful appointments and full diaries for the next six months. Every moment he got James stared down at his left hand, the tattoo there like a beacon forbidding him from looking away. They were on Cloud Nine, both of them, the _three_ of them even. They’d never felt like an odd group, Sirius like a third wheel, because of how much they cared for each other.

When Saturday came around they journeyed down to Berkshire, Sirius leading on the bike and James with one hand on the wheel and the other clasped in Lily’s. As usual they went around to the side gate and when they walked through to the garden, were greeted with endless tables full of their friends and family, all raising a toast for them. Sirius grinned slyly when James asked if he knew of the plan to surprise the couple—they thought no one was arriving until the evening—and just waved his hand dismissively.

James and Lily spent the afternoon drinking champagne and recounting their perfect little wedding to friends and family. The only person whom James wished to be there was Lily’s sister Petunia. Not because he missed her presence but because Lily did. Sirius had invited her, even phoned her himself and practically begged her to attend, but she wouldn’t have it. Petunia had made up her mind when she told Lily that dating someone like James Potter, someone who could’ve had wonderful social standing but instead chose to make a name for himself tattooing with his best friend.

“I’m sorry she’s not here, flower,” James whispered when he caught Lily looking around a little forlornly.

Lily tossed her head and sniffed, but James could see she was a little upset. “Nah, it’s fine. She made her choice. I made mine. With work, with Marauder Ink—” she rubbed her finger over the healing tattoo on her finger— “with you.”


End file.
